


The Awkward Third Friend

by sunkelles



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, Maura drags Gansey into an Awkward Talk, Post-The Raven King, not enough of them to warrant a tag though, surprisingly not about the ot3 though, talked about pynch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 11:30:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13410324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: Gansey is working out his place in his relationships, platonic and romantic. Maura offers her advice as a fellow third wheel to a couple.





	The Awkward Third Friend

**Author's Note:**

> i don't even really know what this fic is? apparently just an excuse for my brain to start working around in trc verse for fic purposes. there will most likely be more where this came from. well, more like "trc fic" than "specifically mauara and gansey having awkward conversations about being third wheels" but 
> 
> also note on relationships 
> 
> 1\. the pynch is so briefly mentioned i could in no way justify putting it in the tag so it's not there  
> 2\. this fic also isn't really about the calla/persephone but considering that 1. there are only eight things in the tag and it would appreciate any new additions and 2. i hopefully will be writing real fics for them soon, i could just gently nudge this in there too.  
> 3\. it's not even really about the sarchengsey, but since there's enough talk about their respective relationships i thought that i could put it there with no guilt
> 
> also? the ladies of fox way are all woc i don't make the rules

Gansey arrives to pick Blue up for what might be a date or might just be three people hanging out at the movies about five minutes early. The two of them have never really gotten around to having the talk with Henry about what they are, or what they want to be, or even if the kissing needs to mean something outside of kissing. Now that they are all grown and there are no more curses, kissing doesn't have to mean true love or death do us part if they don't want to. 

 

Either way, though, movies and feelings are occurring, and Gansey has arrived at 300 Fox Way five minutes early to pick Blue up for a hang-out make-out maybe or maybe not a date. 

This, of course, means that Blue needs ten minutes to get ready. While Gansey is always five minutes early, Blue is always five minutes late. Maura lets Gansey in easily, and calls up to Blue. 

"Your white boy is here," she says. Maura might have called Gansey Blue's white boy because Maura and Blue are Black, or it could be to differentiate between Gansey and Henry, or it might just be to annoy Gansey. The possible implications make his head hurt. 

"Be down in ten," Blue shouts from upstairs. 

Gansey never knows what it is Blue needs to do to get ready when he arrives to pick her up, because at far as he knows she doesn't do her makeup or hair. He's not about to question her, though, and he takes a seat on the couch near the bottom of the stairs.  Maura crosses her arms over her chest and leans against the bottom of the staircase. It seems that Gansey is not getting out of this today without a pre-date interrogation. 

"What are you two doing tonight?" 

"We're meeting Henry at the movies in half an hour," Gansey says, "we're seeing some romantic comedy that he was really excited about." 

"Just the three of you?" Gansey can't quite pick up her implication from her words. Is she implying Henry will be a third wheel?  Or that she knows the nature of their relationship? Asking where Ronan and Adam are? 

Gansey doesn't know how to convey that Henry is in no way an awkward third wheel around them or try to deny the possibility of healthy polyamory instead, so he lets her know that Ronan and Adam can't come. They weren't exactly invited, but still. It might make the three of them seem less odd if she thinks the others were invited. He doesn't want Maura to scrutinize their relationship too much. He and Henry are still trying to convince her to let Blue go on a Great American Road Trip with them. 

"Ronan and Adam had plans tonight," Gansey says. 

"So, your two best friends are making out now?" Maura asks. 

"That's- that's a strange thing to say," Gansey stutters. Gansey doesn't know if Maura already knew about their relationship or if she parsed it from that one comment. If so, Maura might be even more psychic than he thought. 

"But it's true. Your friends, they're an item now?" They both know that she means "Ronan and Adam" and not any other possible combination. Then again, there aren't that many other possible combinations. Noah is really gone now, and they've just befriended Henry recently. Even with as well liked and well connected as Gansey is, the rest of his social circle is made up of acquaintances, not people he'd really call friends.   

"If I say yes will this conversation be over?" Gansey asks. 

"I just wanted to give you a little advice, one awkward Harry Potter friend to another." 

"Harry Potter friend?" Gansey asks. He's not sure he understands what she means by that. 

"The Harry Potter friend," Maura says, like that makes any sense, "the third best friend in a trio where the other two are dating." It takes Gansey an embarrassing amount of time to realize what Maura is implying. 

"You mean Calla and Persephone were-" 

"Yeah," Maura says sadly, "they were." 

"I didn't know," Gansey says. It feels like he didn't know a lot of things, actually. He looks down, awkwardly, at the decaying floral print of the couch. 

"Most people didn't," Maura says, "they weren't hiding it, but they didn't shout it from the rooftops either. Being openly gay in Virginia isn't a cakewalk, especially when you're not white." On top of that, the women of 300 Fox Way also have the income disparity to work with. 

"Why are you telling me about it, then?" Gansey asks. He doesn't know why he would be privileged with such information. He has all the privileges that tend to make people prejudiced. His mother is running for the Virginia senate on the Republican ticket, after all. If he were her, he doesn't think he would trust himself with information like that.  

"We aren't getting rid of you any time soon," Maura says. Gansey feels surprisingly warm at the statement. Maura has accepted that he's going to be a part of her life, because of Blue- because Blue decided that he would be. 

The fact that Blue actively chose him, even after her death kiss- even after being freed from the curse and realizing the quest for Gwendower yielded nothing, it warms his heart a little. Gansey is just so pleased to still be with Blue even without the chains of destiny and death weighing down on him. Instead, he feels the hand of Maura Sargent weighing down on him, giving him a firm, almost fatherly shoulder pat. 

"Prepare yourself for a life time of third wheeling and playing marriage counselor," she warns him gently, "Those two won't fix their relationship problems on their own. They're gonna expect you to do it for them." Gansey sighs. 

He's never really thought about this, but he supposes that it makes sense. He's always been the friend mediator. Of course he's going to be the romantic mediator now that his two best friends are in a relationship. 

He's invested in their happiness, both separately and together, so honestly, he shouldn't have needed Maura Sargent to point out how this was going to be his life from now on. But somehow it did. 

Gansey sighs. He might actually have to become a licensed therapist to make this work, but then again, if there's anything Gansey is good at, it's studying. If anyone can become a relationship counselor solely to meddle in his friends' relationships it's him. Something like that might even help Gansey himself, if his pipe dreams of polyamory end up amounting to anything. 


End file.
